When you start a new job you want a clear desk. Andy Rowell has gone one step further. Recently appointed as Commander of Ealing Police he decided it was high time to bin bureaucracy thoughout the borough.

Staff have had a spring clean today and emptied drawers, shelves and filling cabinets of all unwanted, irrelevant paperwork and duplicated policies.

The aim is to ditch the old practices of micro analysis and unnecessary paperwork and free up officers.

It's estimated that about a tonne of waste has been collected from Ealing station alone.

All borough-based policing policies, action plans and unnecessary paperwork from the last five years from Ealing, Acton and Southall have been shredded or sent to incinerators.

Commander Rowell says:

''I could see when I started that there was too much paper work getting in the way - it was clouding things. So I thought it a really good time to have a clear out.''

The de-clutter has also meant a change in some work procedures.

Previously the borough's Safer Neighbourhood Teams were filling out daily work diaries. Commander Rowell has stopped this practice which he said was unnecessary duplication.

He says making these and other changes throughout the force will free up 80 hours a week of police time.

“Its time for us to move forward in borough policing and deal effectively with the real crime issues that face the people of Ealing.

"Policing is not about unnecessary paperwork, it’s about getting back to the basics of policing, by freeing up officers' time to focus on the things that matter.”